This disclosure relates to electronic payment processing.
A conventional point-of-sale credit card transaction can include an authorization stage and a capture stage. In the authorization stage, a user swipes a physical credit card with a magnetic stripe through a merchant device that includes a magnetic card reader. The magnetic card reader electronically sends a payment request to a credit card processor. The credit card processor routes the payment request to a card network, e.g., Visa™ or MasterCard™ network, which in turn routes the payment request to the card issuer, e.g., a bank. If the card issuer approves the transaction, the approval is routed back to the merchant device. In the capture stage, the approved transaction is again routed from the merchant device to the credit card processor, card network and card issuer, and the payment request can include the cardholder's signature. The capture stage can trigger the financial transaction between the card issuer and the merchant device, and creates a receipt. There can also be other entities, e.g., the card acquirer, in the route of the transaction. Various other card transactions, e.g., debit card transactions, may have different routing schemes.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.